The 164

The 164-page Sengoku Basara Series Official Anthology Comic: Gakuen Basara 5 was released on 28th March 2013 for ¥1,029. Like the earlier books in the series it can be purchased from all good import book stores and manga specialists. With the major characters already introduced and several old faces like Hideyoshi, Hanbee, Nagamasa and Musashi returning to the cast, this is the most crowded volume of Gakuen Basara yet!
The cover illustration by artist Nari wraps around to fit as many characters as possible on the front and back of the book. Inside is the textless version of the cover as well as a pair of new colour illustrations by Yukihiro Utako and Kyuugou, plus the usual manga chapters from the regular GakuBasa contributors and a few more 'report cards' to show how each characters fares in lessons. There's a proper theme this time as each story covers a different aspect of a typical Japanese school sports festival (undoukai).
Minna! Matomare!! Haran No Meeting (Everyone! Settle Down!! A Turbulent Meeting)
It's the evening before the Gakuen Basara sports festival and team leaders are giving their classes pep talks to prepare for victory. Some of the students are noticeably better at fostering a sense of team spirit than others, and several of the groups just end up arguing or getting into trouble. I found this introductory chapter very helpful as it shows how the classes are split up; the artists have taken the opportunity to separate rivals and servants into different groups to force characters to interact with people they normally wouldn't. Even though this information is included in the character roster at the start of the book, it never seemed important in the earlier volumes.
Shouri Wo Kimi Ni ~Ichiyajou Sakuryakusen~ (Victory For You ~The One Night Castle Trick Battle~)
The sports festival begins with a three-legged race. Some of the pairings seem poorly chosen: Ranmaru and Sourin cannot work together at all, and Kanetsugu's delusional personality was already driving Kasuga crazy in the previous chapter. Thanks to some cheating by the more tactically-minded participants, the race ends up full of surprises and upsets.
Hana No Ouen Gassen!? (Flowery Cheering Battle!?)
The classes compete to see who can cheer the most enthusiastically. Each has various strategies prepared to make their team's cheering routine stand out from the crowd, but some people get more pleasure out of disrupting the other teams than playing fair. Although the disastrous attempt at a 'bonds'-themed cheer by Ieyasu's class made me laugh most, Keiji's team was probably my favourite.
Itsuki-chan, Okawari! (More Please, Itsuki-chan!)
Itsuki has prepared a huge spread of food for the hungry participants, and nobody would dare interfere with lunch when it's not even a sporting event, right? For some reason Motonari and Gyoubu are acting suspiciously, and Kingo seems extremely flustered...
Karimono Kyousoukyoku (Borrowed Item Rhapsody)
The title is a pun on karimono kyousou, a traditional game played at sports festivals where participants draw a card with a clue on it and have to scavenge for something which matches. And that's exactly what this story is about. Kotarou, Kanbee and Mitsunari rush around the school grounds in a desperate struggle to retrieve the difficult items they've been asked to find under the watchful eyes of Nobunaga and Hisahide.
Nandemo Yoi Kara Tamairero (Anything Goes, So Throw The Balls)
This time the title refers to tamaire, a Japanese team game played by quickly throwing lots of balls into a basket. All rules are forgotten as the characters scramble to use every skill at their disposal to win the game; with so many unfair abilities available to the contestants it's impossible to tell which team will prevail.
Tatakau Sensei-sama (Fighting Teachers)
The rarely-seen teachers all gather together for a race while their students cheer them on from the sidelines. Even Nobunaga seems to want to win! It turns out that most of the teachers are happy to bend the rules as much as anyone else - though having played the games I think Kenshin must have been running slowly on purpose to give everyone else a chance.
Sakuryaku No Oodama Korogashi ~Honda Tadakatsu Otsu!?~ (Tactical Oodama Korogashi ~Honda Tadakatsu Falls!?~)
Oodama korogashi (or tamakorogashi) is a Japanese relay race where participants roll a large ball as they run. The other teams conspire against Tadakatsu's overwhelming strength, coming up with an elaborate plan to take him out of the game entirely so the rest of them can have a 'fair' match. Can four warring classrooms really unite to carry out such treachery successfully?
Hachamecha! Fuusenwari (Nonsense! Balloon Splitting)
Yet another play on a normal sports festival event. This time, bell-splitting (suzuwari) is replaced by balloon-splitting. The Gakuen Basara version is more like a mock cavalry battle (kibasen); each student has a small balloon strapped to their head and a squeaky hammer, and the goal is to burst all of the opposing team's balloons with the hammer while protecting your own. With the Gakuen Basara characters all using their signature fighting techniques, the school's playing field becomes a battlefield!
Konmei! Bousou! 400m-sou! (Confusion! Running Wild! 400m Dash!)
It's time for the final event of the sports festival, and the school's leaders have declared that it will be the decider by making it worth far more points than any of the earlier competitions! They didn't have much choice - it was probably impossible to calculate the scores after so many of the earlier events ended in disqualification. Masamune, Yukimura, Mitsunari, Hideyoshi and Keiji take the lead roles in a no-holds-barred rush for the finish line!
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Sanorin, Yanagi Batoshirou, Arai Karo have participated in every Gakuen Basara book to date, while Rokuji, Maki, Minami Seira, Mikami and Danbo all from the 'second generation' of regular GakuBasa participants who started in the third volume. Matsuura Hako returns for the first time since Gakuen Basara 2 and Yonata is a complete newcomer.
In spite of the silly storyline Gakuen Basara 5 is another strong book in the series, packed full of treats for long term fans. For me, the highlight was seeing Nagamasa back together with Oichi; she's still her gloomy self but they're dreadfully cute as a pair. It was also hilarious having Hideyoshi, Hanbee and Mitsunari separated across three different teams. The level of passion that the members of the Toyotomi faction have for their leader never stops being funny.
The shuffling of the established character relationships to force allies to battle one another was a great way to keep the typical sports festival formula from getting stale. I love the usual Sengoku Basara teams as much as anyone, but everything is so much more vibrant when enemies have to come together to challenge their closest friends, and when the characters are forced to choose between staying loyal to their friends or supporting their classmates. The artists have made full use of the comedy potential on offer to make this one of the strongest volumes in the Gakuen Basara series to date.
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One of the many interesting things about the Sengoku Basara series is how much care the creators put into each character's dialogue. Every character consistently addresses the others (and themselves) in a particular way, which means you can often tell who spoke and who they were speaking to from written text without any context at all. This makes it quite challenging to translate; it's almost impossible to replicate the variety in the original script without resorting to obscure English expressions which sound very strange in a Japanese setting - such as Sasuke addressing Yukimura as 'Guv' rather than his usual 'Danna' in the English adaptation of the manga.
As a result of this careful attention to character interactions, many of the warriors in the games have attracted a number of nicknames over the last eight years. Some of these are based on names (and titles) used by the real-life historical figures; others are inventions used only in Sengoku Basara. And some are nothing more than in-jokes between fans.
In the west, new fans often seem to comment that it's very difficult to learn who all of the characters are. The nicknames don't help and there don't seem to be many resources in English to help people decipher them. I decided to try to put together a list of the most common ones - partly to be helpful, and partly because I was curious to see how many I could remember all by myself. The answer turned out to be 'a lot', though this list is far from complete, and doesn't even touch on honourifics or the multitude of personal pronouns the series employs.
Firstly, a list of nicknames for individual characters. It's hopefully obvious which of these are official in-game nicknames and which are jokes.
103-year-old 103歳
Motonari. A joke based on the age he would actually have been if he were at the Battle of Sekigahara.
Anaguma 穴熊
Kanbee. 'Badger'.
Aniki アニキ
Motochika. 'Older brother', but used more like the slang expression 'bro'.
Benmaru 弁丸
Yukimura. His real-life childhood name.
Bishamonten No Keshin 毘沙門天の化身
Kenshin. Literally 'Bishamonten incarnate'.
Bontenmaru 梵天丸
Masamune. His real-life childhood name.
Chesuto (or Chesuto Shimazu) チェスト島津
Yoshihiro. From his Xavist baptismal name. Based on a kiai shout, it's changed to the sound-alike name 'Chester' in the dub.
Chika-chan チカちゃん
Motochika.
Croissant クロワッサン
Motochika. This was coined by fans after seeing an unflattering piece of artwork.
Daigoten Maou 第五天魔王
Oichi. 'Demon King of the Fifth Heaven'.
Dairokuten Maou 第六天魔王
Nobunaga. 'Demon King of the Sixth Heaven'.
Danna 旦那
Yukimura. Sasuke uses this word for 'master' or 'boss' along with a description to address most people. Fans sometimes use it alone affectionately to refer to Yukimura.
Densetsu No Shinobi 伝説の忍
Kotarou. 'The legendary ninja'.
Echigo No Ryuu 越後の龍
Kenshin. 'Dragon of Echigo'.
Fuuraibou 風来坊
Keiji. 'Vagabond'.
Dokuganryuu 独眼竜
Masamune. 'One-eyed Dragon'.
Gallop (or Gallop Tachibana) ギャロップ立花
Muneshige. From his Xavist baptismal name.
Gongen 権現
Ieyasu. 'Avatar'.
Gorilla ゴリラ
Hideyoshi.
Gunshin 軍神
Kenshin. 'God of war'.
Gyoubu 刑部
Yoshitsugu.
Haou 覇王
Hideyoshi. 'Conqueror King'.
Hashibirokou ハシビロコウ
Mitsunari. It's a type of bird (a shoebill, courtesy of Roni Gotangco in the comments) fans think he resembles, which became a meme.
Hentai 変態
Mitsuhide. 'Deviant'.
Himemiko 姫巫女
Tsuruhime. 'Princess Miko'.
Himewako 姫若子
Motochika. 'Little Princess', a real-life childhood nickname.
Hittou 筆頭
Masamune. Used by the Date army to mean the head of their lands (sometimes translated as 'number one'). 
Hondam ホンダム
Tadakatsu. A portmanteau of 'Honda' and 'Gundam'.
Honnouji No Hentai 本能寺の変態
Mitsuhide. 'The deviant of Honnouji'.
Inuchiyo 犬千代
Toshiie. His real-life childhood name. Matsu calls him Inuchiyo-sama.
Jicchan じっちゃん
Yoshihiro. A cute, informal way to refer to an older man.
Joe C. (or Joe C. Kuroda) ジョーシー黒田
Kanbee. From his Xavist baptismal name. Based on Josui, another name he went by in real life.
Kai No Tora 甲斐の虎
Shingen. 'Tiger of Kai'.
Kazusanosuke 上総介
Nobunaga. Nouhime calls him Kazusanosuke-sama.
Kei-chan 慶ちゃん
Keiji.
KG
Keiji. A phonetic pun.
Kichou 帰蝶
Nouhime.
Kingo 金吾
Hideaki.
Kurokan クロカン
Kanbee. A simple contraction of Kuroda Kanbee.
Kyouou 凶王
Mitsunari. 'King of misfortune'.
Kyouyuu 梟雄
Hisahide. 'Ruthless villain'.
Lovers (or Lovers Naoe) ラバーズ直江
Kanetsugu. From his Xavist baptismal name. Based on his kabuto design.
Maa-kun (or Maa-chan) まーくん or まーちゃん
Masamune.
Maou 魔王
Nobunaga. 'Demon King'.
Maou No Ko 魔王の子
Ranmaru. 'Child of the Demon King' - obviously, not literally.
Maro まろ
Yoshimoto. Derives from the affected way he refers to himself.
Maru 丸
Ranmaru. Used by Nobunaga.
Migime 右目
Kojuurou. 'Right eye [of the dragon]'.
Mittsun みっつん
Mitsunari.
Mori Boy 森ボーイ
Yoritsuna. 'Forest boy'.
Muteki 無敵
Kanetsugu. 'Invincible'.
Nankoubou Hentai 南光坊変態
Tenkai (Mitsuhide). 'Tenkai the deviant'.
Nari-sama ナリ様 or 就様
Motonari.
Nee-sama or Nee-san 姉様 or 姐さん
Magoichi. Other characters (like Matsu) are described as 'older sister' as well, but on its own Onee-sama, Nee-sama or Nee-san is usually Magoichi.
NEET ニート
Keiji. This rather mean nickname refers to his lack of a job or goal.
Nichirin No Moushigo 日輪の申し子
Motonari. 'Child of the Sun'.
Okan オカン
Sasuke. Sometimes Kojuurou or Yoshitsugu instead. It's slang for 'mother', referring to the way they look after their lords.
Okappa おかっぱ
Katsuie. It's a reference to his bobbed haircut.
Okra オクラ
Motonari. Because he resembles the plant.
Onigashima No Oni 鬼ヶ島の鬼
Motochika. 'Demon of Onigashima'.
Oni Shimazu 鬼島津
Yoshihiro. 'Demon Shimazu'.
Oniwako 鬼若子
Motochika. 'Little Demon', a real-life childhood nickname.
Ooutsuke 大うつけ
Nobunaga. 'Fool', from one of his actual real-life nicknames.
Oushuu Hittou 奥州筆頭
Masamune. 'Head of Oushuu'.
Owari No Ooutsuke (or Owari No Utsuke) 尾張の大うつけ
Nobunaga. 'Fool of Owari', one of his actual real-life nicknames.
Oyakata-sama お館様
Shingen. A respectful way to address the head of the house.
Ryuu No Migime 竜の右目
Kojuurou. 'Right eye of the dragon'.
Saikai No Oni 西海の鬼
Motochika. 'Demon of the Western Sea'.
Saru 猿
Hideyoshi or Sasuke. 'Monkey'. In Hideyoshi's case it was a real-life nickname. It's part of Sasuke's name. 
Sayaka サヤカ
Magoichi. Used by Motochika and presumed to be her real name.
Sengoku Saikyou 戦国最強
Tadakatsu. 'Strongest in the Warring States'.
Shikoku No Oni 四国の鬼
Motochika. 'Demon of Shikoku'.
Sunday (or Sunday Mouri) サンデー毛利
Motonari. From his Xavist baptismal name.
Sutegoma 捨て駒
Sacrificial pawn(s). This is what Motonari calls everyone other than himself.
Suteki Shinshi 素敵紳士
Yoshiaki. 'Splendid gentleman'.
Tactician タクティシャン
Motonari. Used by Sourin and Xavi.
Taishou 大将
Shingen. Sasuke uses this word for a general or lord for Yukimura too in Sengoku Basara 3/The Last Party. The word itself isn't character-specific outside of the Takeda forces.
Takechiyo 竹千代
Ieyasu. His real-life childhood name.
Takedagun No Okan 武田軍のオカン
Sasuke. From fans joking that he's the caring mother-figure in the Takeda forces.
Takenoko Hamburg たけのこハンバーグ
Hanbee. It's a joke originating from the Minna Tomodachi Sengoku Basaradio show, 'bamboo shoot Hamburg steak'.
Toushou Gongen 東照権現
Ieyasu. 'Avatar of the Light of the East'.
Tsurunoji 鶴の字
Tsuruhime. Used by Motochika.
Ushuu No Kitsune 羽州の狐
Yoshiaki. 'Fox of Ushuu (Dewa)'.
Utsukushiki Tsurugi うつくしきつるぎ
Kasuga. Used by Kenshin, meaning 'beautiful blade'.
Wakaki Tora 若き虎
Yukimura. 'Young tiger'.
Yarou-domo 野郎共
Motochika's crew, when being addressed by Motochika himself. Literally 'you scoundrels', though pirate phrases such as 'me hearties!' are thematically appropriate.
Yoiyami No Hane No Kata 宵闇の羽の方
Kotarou. Tsuruhime's weird nickname for him, 'the one with twilight wings'. Twilight Ninja in the dub.
Yukkii (or Yukki) ゆっきー
Yukimura.
▽
Mitsunari.
▲
Ieyasu.
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As well as the individual names I've listed above, fans often refer to groups of characters linked together by special 'collective nicknames'. Please note that I'm not referring to BL pairings; this notation is frequently used on sites like Pixiv and Nico Nico Douga as shorthand when describing multiple characters who appear in a single picture/video/story.
This list will never be complete since people make up new groupings all the time; here are some of the most common.
蒼紅 (azure/crimson) Masamune, Yukimura
双竜 (twin dragons) Masamune, Kojuurou
信号機 (traffic lights) Masamune, Yukimura, Keiji
団子色トリオ (dango-coloured trio) Yukimura, Mitsunari, Motonari
紅翠 (crimson/jade) Yukimura, Motonari
蒼紅紫翠 (azure/crimson/purple/jade) Masamune, Yukimura, Motochika, Motonari
伊達主従 (Date lord and retainer) Masamune, Kojuurou
真田主従 (Sanada lord and retainer) Yukimura, Sasuke
武田主従 (Takeda lord and retainer) Yukimura, Shingen
石田主従 (Ishida lord and retainer) Mitsunari, Sakon
小早川主従 (Kobayakawa lord and retainer) Hideaki, Tenkai
北条主従 (Houjou lord and retainer) Ujimasa, Kotarou
鉄壁主従 (iron fortress lord and retainer) Ieyasu, Tadakatsu
蒼紅主従 (azure/crimson lords and retainers) Masamune, Yukimura, Kojuurou, Sasuke
保護者 (guardians) Sasuke, Kojuurou (sometimes includes Yoshitsugu too)
関ヶ原 (Sekigahara) Ieyasu, Mitsunari
瀬戸内 (Setouchi) Motochika, Motonari
瀬戸内トリオ (Setouchi trio) Motochika, Motonari, Tsuruhime
川中島 (Kawanakajima) Kenshin, Shingen
東北トリオ (Touhoku trio) Masamune, Kojuurou, Itsuki
東西アニキ or 東西兄貴 (east-west brothers) Masamune, Motochika
東軍コンビ (Eastern army combination) Ieyasu, Masamune
西軍 (Western army) Mitsunari, Yoshitsugu, Motochika, Motonari, Kanbee, Yoshihiro, Yukimura, Sasuke, Oichi, Tenkai, Hideaki
東軍 (Eastern army) Ieyasu, Masamune, Tadakatsu, Kojuurou, Keiji, Ujimasa, Kotarou, Magoichi, Tsuruhime, Yoshiaki
武田軍 (Takeda army) Shingen, Yukimura, Sasuke
織田軍 (Oda army) Nobunaga, Nouhime, Ranmaru, Mitsuhide (sometimes includes Nagamasa, Oichi, Ieyasu, Tadakatsu)
豊臣軍 (Toyotomi army) Hideyoshi, Hanbee, Kanbee, Yoshitsugu, Mitsunari, Ieyasu
前田家 (Maeda family) Toshiie, Matsu, Keiji
前田夫婦 (Maeda couple) Toshiie, Matsu
浅井夫婦 (Azai couple) Nagamasa, Oichi
織田兄妹 (Oda siblings) Nobunaga, Oichi
二兵衛 (two 'bee's) Hanbee, Kanbee
両兵衛 (both 'bee's) Hanbee, Kanbee
友垣 (friends) Hideyoshi, Hanbee, Keiji
三忍 (three ninja) Kotarou, Sasuke, Kasuga
若虎組 (young tigers) Ieyasu, Yukimura
智将コンビ (the resourceful general combo) Hanbee, Motonari
お月様コンビ (moon combination) Masamune, Mitsunari
銀色の堕天使 (silver-coloured fallen angels) Motochika, Hanbee, Mitsunari, Mitsuhide/Tenkai
ザビー教 (Xavists) Zabii, Sourin, Muneshige, Motonari, Yoshihiro, Kanbee
地方領主 (regional warlords) Kanetsugu, Harumasa, Haruhisa, Yoritsuna, Yoshishige, Hirotsuna
For good measure, how about a list of the characters' pen names? In Sengoku Basara 3 Utage, equipping the item 'Oushuu Bukkomi Meyasubako' (奥州特攻目安箱 'Oushuu special attack suggestion box') will cause a cheeky presenter to read out postcards sent in to the popular (fictional) Sengoku-era radio show he hosts. It's easy to guess the identities of the anonymous contributors, so here's a list of their nicknames. There were also four characters who didn't leave a name for varying reasons (Kotarou, Tadakatsu, Yoshiaki and Hisahide).
まぐまぐ (Chomp chomp) Hideaki
雪だるま (Snowman) Itsuki
天下の岩窟王 (This land's King of the Cavern) Kanbee
隠し味は愛 (The secret ingredient is love) Matsu
関白宣言 (The advisor's declaration) Muneshige
エンジェル (Angel) Sourin
一日一善 (One good deed every day) Tenkai
星に願いを (Wishing upon a star) Tsuruhime
Ok, that's all for now. I've skipped a fair number of real-name titles which I haven't seen many people use in fandom, but there must be plenty that I've missed......